The Right Costumes
by Freckled Princess of Arendelle
Summary: Modern AU. When Elsa has doubts about her costume, Hans might just know how to ease her worries. (Helsa)


The Right Costumes

On the day of Halloween, Hans was sitting in the campus cafe and finishing his homework. There were only a few short hours left before the big Halloween ball and Hans wanted to get his work done so he could walk over to Elsa's and get ready. Taking a sip of his salted caramel mocha, Hans turned back to his opened laptop and proceeded to finish his project. As he fingers moved along the keyboard, his phone's screen turned bright, catching his attention.

Curious, he snatched up his phone and looked down at the new message.

 _E – I don't think I want to go to tonight's party._

Hans frowned at the new message on the screen. The sudden change of mind was strange indeed. Why would Elsa reconsider the Halloween Ball? She was so excited about going before.

Shaking his head, Hans texted her back.

 _H – Why? What's wrong?_

Her message appeared just ten seconds later.

 _E – Can you come over?_

Swallowing down the last of his drink, Hans grabbed his books and threw them into his backpack. After putting away his laptop, the young man stood and moved out of the building. The moment Hans was out the door and onto the street, he took out his phone and texted his reply.

 _H – Be there in 10._

* * *

Elsa sat in her apartment and chewed on her bottom lip. She was still dressed in her regular clothes and her costume was laid out on her lap.

This year she and Hans decided to go to their first costume ball as a couple, and Elsa was ecstatic when Hans asked her a few weeks back.

The only downside was that Elsa was not one for frills, corsets, and fishnet tights like the other girls in the dorm. The flimsy sexy costumes at the store made her cringe whenever she passed them. Moreover, every time she did see them, Elsa was unable to understand what was so attractive about tight, one-piece jumpsuits and thigh high skirts.

At first Elsa was reluctant to tell Hans about her dilemma, because she knew the girls he used to date before her. They were the rebellious and fearless type, the ones who did not care about how much skin they revealed or how much was too much at a frat party.

When Elsa brought up her concern (minus the part about the girls), Hans understood her entirely. He vowed never to force her to do anything she did not like or was not ready for.

With that being said, they went shopping, and after a lengthy search on both the Internet and the mall, the couple decided to go as Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy.

Elsa bought a long, elegant white dress with short sleeves and long, satin gloves that went up to her elbows. She decided that she was going to curl her hair, put it up in an elegant up-do, and add a simple gold chain with a flower locket around her neck. As Mr. Darcy, Hans was going to wear a black dress jacket with gold cuffs, gray trousers, black riding boots, and a white dress shirt with a ruffled neckline.

Now the costumes laid on her bed, and Elsa could not help but panic.

One thing was certain – and that was that the costumes they chose were not going to be very exciting. Back in the store, the costumes looked perfect. Now, just a few hours before the ball, Elsa started to have her doubts.

These costumes were plain and simple, nothing like what her friends described their costumes were going to be like. Her room-mate Astrid was going as the Viking shield maiden Lagertha and Hiccup was accompanying her as Ragnar Lothbrok. Her best friend Jack and his girlfriend Thia posted pictures of themselves as a sexy rock and roll couple. Other couples were going as something sexy or thrilling. Police officers and prisoners, ringmasters and sexy tigresses, Little Red Riding Hood and her buff huntsman, everything but Jane Austen.

Getting up from the bed, Elsa picked up her dress and glanced down at it. Before she could think of a final decision, the door to her room opened.

"Hey, sorry I'm a little late." Hans apologized and set his backpack down on the floor.

Elsa swept her dress behind her back with a small smile. "It's okay."

Looking up, Hans stopped and gave her a brief glance. "Is everything okay? You said you don't want to go to the ball."

The young woman shook her head. "It's a silly reason."

"Let's sit down and talk. We still got some time." Hans insisted, taking her arm and guiding her to the bed. He sat down on the edge and gestured to the empty spot.

Elsa sighed and moved to sit beside him. "When I took the costumes out…I don't know…I don't think I like them."

"How come?" Hans asked with a confused frown.

"Look at them! They're so…" Elsa bit her lips and shook her head, unsure if she could say her opinion.

Hans followed her glance. "Unique?"

"Boring. No one is going to come as a Jane Austen couple!" Elsa exclaimed and threw her hands up into the air.

Calmly, Hans lowered her hands and took them into his own. With a small smile, he reached out and kissed the distressed girl on the nose.

"It's going to be okay."

Elsa lifted her eyes to him. "I just don't want….never mind." she paused and chewed on her lip.

When she looked down at her lap and offered no explanation, Hans straightened in sudden realization. "You're afraid people are going to laugh at us. Is that it?"

Elsa did not know what to say, so she refused to meet his glance. After some time, she let out a short sigh. "I'm sorry I'm so plain but…but I just can't be sexy and cute like the other girls. I'm sorry I can't be the girl you want me to be." Elsa whispered.

"Hey," Hans reached out and cupped her cheek. He turned Elsa's face so she could look up at him.

"I don't give a damn about the other girls. They're nothing to me. Right now, you're the one I want and I love you for who you are Elsa. You never once tried to change yourself for me or anyone else. All those girls you talk about put on so much make up and go crazy with their hair, but you're not one of them. You control yourself and don't go with what all the other girls are doing. When I first met you, I didn't see a reflection of the last girl. I saw someone new, someone beautiful in her own way. Don't you dare change yourself."

Elsa sniffed and her lips curved into a small smile. "I won't."

"Good, and you shouldn't worry about what others say about you. If they don't see the special things about you that make you _you_ , then they're obviously blind." Hans added. He then leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

"Feel better now?" he whispered with a smile.

Elsa giggled and pressed her forehead to his. "Yes."

"Good," Hans pressed another kiss on her lips before pulling back. As he stood and helped Elsa up, his gaze fell back on the costumes. "Let's get ready."

Elsa's eyes brightened as they leaned in for one last kiss. Their lips almost touched when the door to the room flew open and Astrid came in, carrying a plastic bag and already dressed in her costume.

"Hey sorry for barging in. I'm just dropping these off and then heading to Thia's to help her get ready."

Elsa smiled anew and gripped Hans' arm. "That's okay, we were just getting ready ourselves"

"What's in the bag?" Hans asked curiously.

Astrid looked down at the bag she was holding. "Oh just some paint and weird FX transfer things for zombies. You can have it all if you want." she said and held out the materiels.

Curious, Hans took the bag and peered inside, while Astrid grabbed her lanyard and car keys. "I gotta go. I'll see you two at the ball!" she said before hurrying out of the room.

Once Astrid was gone, Elsa approached her boyfriend, the dress back in her arms and ready to be put on. "What is it?"

At the sound of her voice, Hans looked up from the bag and turned to her. A sudden gleam appeared on his face as he reached in and withdrew a small red bottle.

"Hey Els, I know you don't want to go to the ball in something sexy and flashy, so how would you feel about going as something unexpectedly scary?"

"Scary?" Elsa titled her head to the side. "What's so scary about Jane Austen?"

"Have you ever heard of _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies_?"

Elsa looked up from the bottle in his hands and gave Hans an incredulous look. " _Pride and Prejudice and_ what?"

* * *

After explaining the new change to Elsa, Hans called one of his roommates' girlfriends to come and help them dress up. He assured a skeptical Elsa that she was one of the best make-up artists in the city, and after some more convincing and pleading, Elsa finally gave into the change of plans. The small and tattooed Daphne came ten minutes later, and while Hans made a few changes to his costume, Daphne sat Elsa down and told her to close her eyes.

"This is such a great idea! Everyone will be stoked once they see you!" the small girl exclaimed as she began to apply the make-up to Elsa's cheeks.

"She'll love it." Hans admitted as he tore through the fabric of his dress shirt.

* * *

"Viola!" Daphne announced and stepped back. She then grabbed the mirror from the table and held it out.

Still seated at her desk, Elsa opened her eyes and took the mirror. A stunned gasp escaped her lips as Elsa starred at her reflection.

Her face was covered with drawn cuts and fake blood that trickled from a FX cut plaster just at the center of her right cheek. The plaster was meant to look as though she had a deep, bloody gash, and when Elsa touched it, she could not help but shudder at the bumpy, rough surface. There were random areas on her face and neck that were dabbed with fake blood and the curls that framed her face were streaked in red. She took out a few pins from her hair to make her nice up-do look as though it was coming undone.

For a long moment, Elsa did not know what to say. She looked bold and terrifying, even if she was not an actual zombie. It felt exhilarating to shed her innocent good girl image and put on something frightening.

"So? What do you think? Pretty bad-ass for Miss. Bennett the Zombie Slayer." Daphne admitted as she appeared beside her.

"I look great!" Elsa exclaimed.

"We're still not done yet! We gotta do your dress and hands. Gotta make you look beat but set on finishing off the zombies." Daphne insisted. She picked up the bottle of 'blood'.

Elsa nodded and stood from her chair. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Let's go into the bathroom and let your doomed suitor transform himself." Daphne suggested with a bright smile. She took Elsa by her arm and led her to the bathroom.

* * *

In no time, Elsa stood in front of the bathroom mirror and holding onto a bloody fake sword.

Once her make-up was done, she and Daphne went to the bathroom to finish her costume. Getting into the tub, Elsa stood still as Daphne splattered the white materiel of her dress and gloves with the blood paint. Grabbing some bandage wrap, Daphne tied it around Elsa's elbow and dabbed some spots with blood to make a wound. The moment she stepped out of the tub, Elsa turned and looked at herself in the mirror.

"Now you're ready," Daphne said.

"It's amazing, I never would have thought of it." Elsa admitted, looking down at the dress.

"That's because you never read the book." Hans spoke up at the doorway.

Both girls turned around and Elsa could not help but smile at how gruesome and terrifying her boyfriend looked as a zombie. His jacket was torn at different places and splattered with blood spots. Gone was Hans' handsome face and in its place was a heavily bloodied and disfigured mask created by the talented Daphne. Dark bruise spots were underneath his eyes and nasty gashes and an enormous 'opened wound' covered a large part of his right cheek.. Blood trickled down from large scar wound on his neck, staining the ruffled, torn neckline of his shirt. And lastly, his lips were painted dark and heavily splotted with blood to make it though as it was coming from his mouth.

Elsa smiled and approached her boyfriend. "I thought the dead are not supposed to speak." she reminded.

"Can I still kiss you?" Hans asked, leaning in. Gripping his jacket lapels, Elsa giggled and moved to kiss him when Daphne jumped in between them.

"As much I love to see you two eat each other up, you have a ball to go to." she reminded.

"She's right." Elsa nodded and grabbed her sword.

Taking Hans's hand with the other, she looked up and gave him an excited smile. "Are you ready?"

Hans smiled and kissed her on the lips. "After you milady."


End file.
